To be the head coach of a professional sports team, at whatever level, must present a unique set of challenges that only those who have experienced them can really appreciate.
So after reaching the remarkable coaching milestone of 700 matches in recent weeks, John Kear made time in recent days to congratulate Paul Crarey - who will this weekend make history for Barrow Raiders, his home town club.
Sunday’s Betfred Championship game against Oldham at Boundary Park will be Crarey’s 350th competitive fixture as head coach of the Raiders, a journey which began in a comparatively short stint from 2005-7, and resumed in September 2014.
Barrow were enduring one of their lower spells at the time, but in the subsequent decade, have re-established themselves as a thoroughly admirable all-round Championship club, largely through the combination of Crarey’s coaching and the off-field leadership of Steve Neale.
Given Crarey’s long-established nickname, you could say it’s been the best Cresta Run outside Switzerland.
“I’ve sent him a message actually, just to congratulate him,” said Kear, who turned 70 last November and now has no defence against being described as the elder statesman of British Rugby League coaching, however much he protests.
“To coach that many games with one club, and to have been there for so long, is a remarkable achievement – and it’s always so obvious how much he loves and cares for the club, and the sport.”
When asked whether he had been involved at the club when Crarey was appointed, Neale gave an unusual answer – and revealed the influence of the former Kangaroo tourist and Barrow coach Rod Reddy on Cresta’s development.
“I think it was more a case of Paul appointing me,” joked the Raiders chairman. “We’d known each other for a while, played together in the ‘90s, and things had fallen apart a bit at the club – he was badgering me to come on the Board.
“He was a hooker, played hard and aggressive as the game was then, but he built a really strong relationship with Rod Reddy when he was over coaching Barrow. Even today, they’re on the ‘phone to each other weekly I’d say.
“He does so much more for the club than coach the first team. We’ve made a conscious effort to look at the community aspects of the club, and he buys into that completely – he’s on the phone to me more than my wife probably, and I know that whatever he does, he cares passionately about the club.
“He’ll be coaching the local coaches, he’s heavily involved with the Furness Raiders Academy, creating the pathway because he knows how important it is, given our geography, that we produce our own players.
“And as a coach, he’s so impressive. Listen to him at a teamtalk or an analysis session, and he can spot things that wouldn’t occur to me.”
Crarey will break the record set by Frank Foster, an infamously tough Cumbrian who coached Barrow in 349 matches between 1973-83.
“I knew Frank as well, from the shipyard as well as through rugby – a fearsome character,” Neale reflects. “I remember him most for the size of his hands. The tales are legendary, and the joke was he stayed so long as coach because no-one was brave enough to sack him – but he also made a great contribution to Barrow.”
With Barrow RFC celebrating its 150th season (although they weren’t quite founder members of the Northern Union, joining in 1897), Crarey is guaranteed a permanent and distinguished place in its history, alongside Foster, who died in 2019 at the age of 79.
And likewise John Kear in Rugby League history, the coach behind two Challenge Cup Final fairytales (Sheffield Eagles at Wembley 1998, Hull FC in Cardiff 2005), and another 700-odd fixutres.
It seems fitting that he’s returned to Batley, where he so obviously enjoyed a previous six-year stint in charge from 2011-16, part of it recorded for posterity in Tony Hannan’s wonderful book Underdogs.
And even more fitting that after learning of his 700-match milestone, St Helens sent Alex Walmsley to Mount Pleasant to make a special presentation – Walmsley having taken the first steps of his professional career under Kear at Batley, before crossing the Pennines to win medals and international caps galore.
“St Helens had written me an absolutely lovely letter, there was a limited edition gin, and it was quite touching with Alex presenting it – it got to me, I must admit,” added Kear.
On behalf of everyone at the Rugby Football League and Rugby League Commercial, congratulations to both Paul Crarey and John Kear – two coaches who deserve their prominent places in the history of the sport.
